This invention relates to access cards, such as credit cards and key cards, and more particularly to credit and key cards having tab members to provide coded information which are activated by the user to avoid unauthorized use of the access card.
The use of access cards of the key card type are well known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,583 discloses a key card having a magnetizable area thereon in order to activate a TV receiver for viewing. U.S. Pat. No. 3,761,683 discloses a key card having an optical track and a magnetic track thereon for activating a reader device of a security system. Furthermore, key cards are used in a security system to gain access to a particular room or security area, such as a hotel room as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,810 which discloses a key card having a series of holes therethrough, U.S. Pat. No. 3,742,453 disclosing a key card having magnetic information retaining areas thereon, U.S. Pat. No. 3,781,805 disclosing a key card having notches and a series of punched holes therein, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,906,447 disclosing a key card having a series of holes therein.
However, the coded information on the above mentioned key cards is set for each particular key card, so that if the key card is lost or finds its way into unauthorized hands, the unauthorized person can use any of the above mentioned key cards to gain access to the security device, room or area, where there is no way of preventing such unauthorized use once the unauthorized user has a key card or a copy thereof.
In my U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,342, I disclosed a credit card having a foldable tab at each corner of the credit card to provide a different code associated therewith by folding down selected ones of the corner tabs to thus provide an additional encoded information for determining the authenticity of the individual when presenting the credit card to a vendor, where the credit card itself was one of those commonly used by banks or credit companies which have become common place among purchasers. Accordingly, the use of the fold down corner tabs prevented unauthorized use of the card by unauthorized users when the credit card was lost, stolen or copied, such as when the information on the credit card was obtained from the discarded carbon paper of the sales slip.
However, due to the fact that the coded information of my patented credit card was obtained from the four bent down corner tabs, the number of different coded information was limited. Furthermore, my patented credit card did not provide any means for maintaining the corner tabs in their bent down positions, and therefore the proper coded information could accidentally be changed when one of the bent down corner tabs was inadvertently bent back up to its original position. Accordingly, there is a need for improving my patented credit card to permit a greater number of different combinations, and also to provide means for maintaining the tabs in their folded or depressed position or positions.